P0083 - Use of Parent Navigators in a General Pediatrics Clinic to Facilitate Connection to Early Intervention

Background: Many children eligible for developmental therapies through early intervention do not receive such services, often due to practical barriers in accessing the early intervention system as well as distrust. In response to these difficulties, we created a Parent Navigator program to provide two full-time parents of individuals with developmental disabilities who are well-versed in systems navigation to be present in a general pediatrics clinic that serves a low-income, ethnically diverse population, to assist families with linkages to early intervention (EI).

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of having two full-time Parent Navigators present in a general pediatrics clinic to link to EI
Design/

Methods: A retrospective review of data collected for programmatic purposes via parent report from July 2, 2018 to Jan 17, 2019 was conducted to determine:
1) Number children referred to the EI with assistance from Parent Navigators
2) Number of children referred to the EI through the Parent Navigators who received an evaluation for eligibility

Results: Over a 6 month period, 159 children were referred for EI by the Parent Navigators. At the time of data collection, 35 families had been reached to determine outcome of referral, and 31 of these families (88%) reported that the child was found eligible for EI.

Conclusion: Having Parent Navigators present in a general pediatrics clinic that serves a vulnerable population is an effective way of facilitating referrals for EI. Future research will focus on evaluating provider satisfaction with having Parent Navigators present in clinic and family satisfaction with assistance from the Parent Navigators.